


Betwixt and Between

by via_ostiense



Series: Neither Yes Nor No [1]
Category: White Collar
Genre: Collection: Purimgifts Day 2, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-03-05
Updated: 2012-03-05
Packaged: 2017-11-01 04:22:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 440
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/351891
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/via_ostiense/pseuds/via_ostiense
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Christie proposes.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Betwixt and Between

**Author's Note:**

  * For [frith_in_thorns](https://archiveofourown.org/users/frith_in_thorns/gifts).



[ ](http://tinypic.com?ref=bfnr6q)

“You couldn’t have asked me about this before you proposed?” Diana says, throwing her hands up. “We couldn’t have talked about it first?”

“I thought you would say yes!” Christie snaps back. “I mean--God, look around! We live together, we bought furniture together, we have a fucking Costco membership together!” She buries her face in her hands, and Diana feels like the world’s worst girlfriend. Hell, she is the world’s worst girlfriend, or the world’s worst soon-to-be-ex-girlfriend, she’s just turned down the marriage proposal.

“Yes, but,” Diana flounders. She doesn’t know what to say. The obvious word, the one that won’t reduce Christie to tears, is “yes,” but she doesn’t want to say that. She can’t say that, not when sharing the rest of their lives together, taking care of each other in their old age, and having a big, fussy wedding had been sprung on her over a perfectly ordinary Friday dinner without any warning. “I don’t mean no,” she tries. “But not yes, either.”

Christie lifts her head and glares at her, and Diana cringes at the tears sliding down her cheeks. “I’m having a hard time seeing the difference between no and not-yes.” She looks away and wipes at her face. “I thought we were in it for the long haul.”

“We are! I am!” “I love you” never hurts, so Diana tries that, too. “I love you.” She reaches across the the table and cups Christie’s cheek. Christie lets her, then turns away and begins stacking plates and clearing the table.

“I love you, too,” Christie says. “But that’s not going to fix everything.” She drops all the plates in the sink with a crash and sighs, looking down and gripping the counter with her hands. “I don’t know what to think.”

“I’m sorry,” Diana offers. “Can we just--”

“I need some time to think,” Christie says, and walks out of the kitchen. “I can’t--this wasn’t what I expected, obviously.”

At that, Diana feel angry again, because what the hell was Christie thinking? They’ve talked about the next few years together and taken each other into consideration while making career decisions, but they’ve never sat down and talked about formalizing their commitment. The proposal doesn’t count, it’s a question with only one acceptable, predetermined answer, not an exploratory conversation. She opens her mouth to say as much, but Christie shuts the bedroom door. A minute later, it opens and a blanket comes flying out, and the door shuts again.

“Christie,” Diana calls, because she doesn’t want to go to bed with this hanging over them.

“Go sleep on the couch,” comes the muffled reply.


End file.
